News

More than 800 runners and walkers took part in a road race Saturday on one of Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport’s runways. The inaugural “5K on the Runway” event raised thousands of dollars for a local non-profit, the Downtown Hampton Child Development Center. “They got a check for...

Crime

Newport News police took a man into custody Wednesday evening after a standoff that lasted nearly four hours. Police tried to make a coordinated traffic stop just before 6:30 p.m. near the 300 block of Charles Street for a person wanted in connection with multiple robberies in the city, Police...

A woman is dead and three people, including a Newport News police officer and a suspect in the woman’s homicide, were in the hospital after being shot Saturday evening. Police responded to a shooting Saturday afternoon at a Circle K convenience store, near Kiln Creek. They found a woman with gunshot...

Within a couple hours after a woman’s body was found at a Newport News gas station Saturday afternoon, police found the suspect’s car parked in front of the apartment where he lived. Officers converged, but the suspect wasn’t there. He was in another apartment in the complex, and he snuck up on...

Kreetay L. Briggs Jr. had a shark painted on his face and a blue balloon sword in hand Saturday afternoon at the Hampton Police Division’s Victorious Community Day. He played games like musical circles and danced during the limbo alongside of about 25 other children at the event at Town Square...

Politics

Two days after moving into his first apartment, Jaquazzi Worthen cinched up a necktie, slipped into a suit provided by a local foundation and — with more than a little trepidation — was knocking on a restaurant manager’s door to ask about a possible job as a dishwasher. He got the job that day....

A hint from Virginia’s top highway official about where to start new toll lanes leading to an expanded Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is worrying Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck. It’s a question, for now, of a mile or two — but Tuck fears it could create a new bottleneck, and the kind of frantic weaving...

The sums Hampton Roads Transit collected from its fare-boxes slipped again last fiscal year, and the cost of keeping its aging fleet running jumped. But sharp cuts in spending on outside contractors left the agency with a small surplus for the year — a break for the six cities that are on the hook...

Digital Plus

The work week is going to go out with a bang, or more likely the crack of lightning. Severe weather is expected to blast through the region beginning this afternoon and continuing through the evening, the National Weather Service said in its morning advisory. The storms will come in two waves,...

A woman stabbed her husband in the chest during a heated argument Sunday afternoon in their Hampton home, leaving him with a superficial wound, police say. Then he picked up a gun and shot her in the face, killing her, according to court documents. Christian Alexander Neal, 22 — a U.S. Navy sailor...

Two women suffered injuries not considered to be life-threatening after getting caught in a shooting’s crossfire in Newport News Thursday night, police said. The incident occurred shortly before 8:40 p.m. in the area of 9th Street and Ivy Avenue. Officers were called to the area for a report of...

A disabled vehicle has been cleared from a northbound lane on US-17 at the James River Bridge (Rte 17) in Newport News, VDOT reported via tweet. One lane of travel was closed and VDOT anticipated potential traffic delays.

Schools

For the second straight year, Hampton Roads students did worse on state reading tests, according to data released Tuesday by the Virginia Department of Education. Statewide, 2018-19 student pass rates on Standards of Learning reading tests fell slightly from 79% to 78%. Some local districts lost...

The next time a hurricane rolls up the coast — and meteorologists say one is likely — scientists at Hampton University who track severe storms say they’re ready. Researchers at the Center of Excellence, Hampton University’s severe storm facility, have received a $135,000 grant to expand operations....

The first year in office is all about watching and learning. At least it was for Newport News Public Schools Superintendent Dr. George Parker III, who recently clocked his first year with the division. Parker said this year was about determining what needed to be done and what needs to improve....

Hicks Island Bridge is aging. Rossie Carroll, the residency administrator at Virginia Department of Transportation in Williamsburg, said they’ve done work on the single-lane, wood-deck bridge off Route 601 in James City County to further its life expectancy. The bridge is in working condition,...

Science

The forecasters were right — the dead zone in the Chesapeake Bay this summer ranks among the biggest on record. The swath of oxygen-deprived waters stretched 2.01 cubic miles in late July — the second-biggest zone for that time period and 50% larger than the average volume of 1.34 cubic miles from...

The news reports sounded frightening: Three healthy dogs frolicking in a pond in North Carolina ended up dead within minutes, likely from exposure to toxic blue-green algae. Actually, not algae, but a photosynthetic cyanobacteria that mimics blue-green algae and can produce a powerful liver toxin....

Banana farmers with prostate cancer and a political migraine for French President Emmanuel Macron have shifted international attention once again to Kepone in the James River. The pesticide is a cousin to DDT and was dumped illegally in the James decades ago and banned in 1973. Since then, health...